Legacy
by Ankh-Ascendant
Summary: Sesshoumaru contemplates his father and the inheritance swords and his relationship with Inuyasha.


_TITLE: Legacy_

_CHAPTER: oneshot (in theory. Last time I did a Sesshou POV introspection oneshot it turned into two popular yaoi stories of 30+ combined chapters...)_

_AUTHOR: Ankh Ascendant ( setosgirl0 / neferseti0 )_

_DATE: 7-5-09_

_FANDOM: Inuyasha_

_DISCLAIMER: I don't own Inuyasha. Rumiko Takahashi does. Just imagine how it would have gone if I owned it..._

_PAIRINGS: none_

_TYPE: Dramatic introspection_

_RATING: G_

_WARNINGS: angst, a little, and spoilers. _

_OCs: none_

_BETA: none_

_WORDS:1100_

_SUMMARY: Sesshoumaru contemplates his father and the inheritance swords and his relationship with Inuyasha. _

_NOTES: I recently finished reading the manga of Inuyasha, and was struck by the fact that Rumiko Takahashi apparently... well, hated Sesshoumaru. That's the best reason I can come up with for her treatment of him, anyway. Everything he mentions is canon. Even his bitterness seems to be canon. The angst, too, but maybe not as much. Then again, it's Sesshoumaru, I'm sure most of his angst is concealed._

* * *

Legacy

Chichi-ue-sama... I don't understand. Why do you despise me so? What have I done to deserve your scorn? I did not turn my sword or claws against your precious offspring in your lifetime. I did not destroy your filthy human mistress and the child she bore, though it would have saved us both from this. I paid you no insult, no challenge.

I hear it constantly spoken of how terrible I would have made his life, had I been left unchecked, or had I been given Tetsusaiga. Why? Do you think it is my nature to torture such a pathetic thing needlessly? What is the worst I would have done? Kill him. Perhaps him and his pathetic human mother... but I would have swiftly removed his polluted blood from your line, and put him out of his misery. I could not have designed a more painful life for him than he had as it was. He lived for two hundred years unmolested by me... the humans did enough to torture him, I am sure. Then, which of us is more merciful, father? I, who would have ended the pain of his life, or you who forced him to endure it?

But I am sure you would have made his life better, had you lived to raise him. He and his mother in places of honor at your side, learning at your hand to be the master of your lands. It seems he was always intended to be your heir.

But instead you were killed, and now there are no great lands for him to inherit. There are only these swords.

Why, _why_ then is it such a terrible thing to be attached to your heirlooms? Should they not have a place of honor? Even knowing this is a mere fragment of a sword, given to me only as a means of strengthening him, I still carry it. Do I mean so little that even my honor is an insult? I have been told by those who knew you better than I to relinquish my attachment to them, even to Tenseiga... is this because you held no attachment to me? Perhaps they are intended only for him and I am foolish to still want them, to want to give the symbols of your power the kind of bearer they deserve. Should I be as Inuyasha, openly disrespect your grave, deny any attachment to you, speak disrespectfully at every mention of your title? I could not. You offered me no respect in life and less in death, yet I cannot. I have been used and slighted and betrayed by you, yet I cannot.

How should I have been? I was and am a proper son. It is I who honors your memory and your power. It is I who carries your blood and the true power of your line. It is I who carries on your legacy of strength. It is I who can see the true power of your artifacts. It is I who can master even the meidou... It is I who am a true daiyoukai and not a half-human animal. Yet, I am insulted and struck down by your will at every turn. What is it that he has that I do not, that makes him worthy? Is the fact of his mortal heritage so much more important than all else?

You certainly knew I had skill, intelligence, power of my own. You knew that it would be I who discovered the secret of your grave, kept even from the flea. You knew it would be I who went there and led him to his inheritance. And you knew that he would be able to touch it, where I could not, and no doubt you knew we would fight for it. I doubt you foresaw him taking my arm. Perhaps you assumed he would at least escape and have gained the confidence to use your sword. What did you think then? You must have known I would not be deterred so easily. Did you think that I would be the constant enemy against whom Inuyasha would train his sword? You did, didn't you... it falls so perfectly together. I cannot be killed while I hold Tenseiga, and his power lies in desperation... Each time he was pushed near death he would miraculously tap his power and push me back, training the sword more, training himself more, growing bolder. In my anger I would be pushed to perfect the meidou... the attack you always intended him to take back. He would finally break my sword, and take it, leaving me with this cast-off fragment, with this power I have scarce use for. No doubt it is left to me to keep it from the hands of a 'truly merciful heart' who would use it indiscriminately. Or... is it your intent that Inuyasha should cut Tenseiga again and take even that power, making him a god among mortals and leaving me with truly nothing, save the knowledge that you despise me even more than I do your prodigal mutt? Would you have me give him everything and take my own place as the banished and unwanted, or forced to accept the mercy of his human heart? Would you have me, finally, kneel before him and accept him as my master?

Does Tetsusaiga truly have any purpose but to subjugate me?

You did not count on Naraku, but still, I have played my role well. I have tested him time and again. I have learned the Tenseiga, better, I am sure, than you would have expected. I faced your own test and walked through the darkness of Hell itself, and felt more pain than I have ever done before, to perfect that power... I returned it to Inuyasha without even being killed for it. I have acknowledged his power, acknowledged him as master of the Tetsusaiga... acknowledged him as your heir. I will not challenge him for it again. I will always covet it, but how could I? It is truly his. The weapons I have to fight him with do not compare. Tenseiga is a sword that would only prolong my agony, and Bakusaiga... The sword of my power cannot defeat the sword of yours. In time it too would be broken, and he would gain my infinite cut as well. His power grows ever stronger, and will continue to grow stronger with every enemy he defeats, yet mine... would only be lost to him.

Is that what you want? Do you hate me so?

Why?

Chichi-ue-dono, I do not understand...


End file.
